One Last Chance
by TercesTardis
Summary: Rose Tyler is gone. But, years later, if the Doctor is given one last chance to say it, will he? Or will he avoid the situation, doing what he did a long time ago.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! So, this is a story about, well, read on! This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I realized it might be too long, so I divided it into 2 halves. I hope you enjoy! :-)**

The Doctor stared into space, thinking about his pink-and-yellow human. Rose. Rose Tyler. Rose Marion Tyler of Earth. The Bad Wolf. The love of his lives. Gone.

All he could think about was that he never got to say it. He lost the connection. The last thing she heard was her name. She never heard what he was going to say. And she will never hear him say, "I love you." All those times he was going to say it, he never did. And he was given one last chance. And then he would waste it. And now, it really was his last chance, but he still wasn't able to say it.

He would never hear Rose call his name, he would never hear her laugh. He would never be able to smell her shampoo again, or see her tongue-touched smile.

The Doctor closed his eyes, remembering every moment with her. The first time they had met, when the plastic dummy was about to hurt the helpless human, he had grabbed her hand and told her to run. And then at the end of the adventure, she proved herself to not be that helpless after all when she saved him with her gymnastics skills.

And she had pleaded to him not to kill Cassandra, but he did not listen. And even then, she did not look at him in horror, instead she comforted him.

When he had just showed her the end of Earth, and unlike most humans, she did not cry, or fret, or scream it out to everyone. Instead, she accepted it, and asked if he wanted to get chips.

And when she first met a Dalek, she took pity on it. And though she found out that he was a bloodthirsty beast, she still saw _good_ in it.

When they were in the Game Station, she never lost hope in him. Even though he admitted he had lost, Rose still persisted and saved them all.

He regenerated, and Rose trusted him. Even though he was a new man:shining brown eyes in the place of icy blue ones, long, messy, brown hair in the place of cropped, and a skinny body with long legs instead of the strong build.

When they went to New New York, she didn't care that they almost died because of a disease; she assured him it as fun. When they went to a spaceship with time windows, when he met Reinette, he abandoned Rose and Mickey, betrayed Rose Tyler. However, as always, she forgave him.

The Doctor felt guilty for putting Rose in that position. She always forgave him, always. But The Doctor wished he could take back every moment he belittled her. But he couldn't. Not know. Not anymore.

Years later...

The Doctor was rubbing his forehead in frustration. Amy and Rory were gone,and now River was insisting that she needed to attend to other things.

He had just lost his best friends, for goodness sakes! And now his wife abandoned him, left him when he needed her the most. Sure, he had experienced the departure of his companions before, but this was the Ponds. They were almost as close to him as...

He didn't want to think about her. He would absolutely not think about the blonde human.

 _Oh, shoot._

He had just thought of her, didn't he? Well, he shouldn't blame himself. Of course he would think of her once in a while. After all, he missed her.

Suddenly, the TARDIS rocked violently, and alarms started to sound. The TARDIS rocked violently. Well, more violently than it usually did, anyway. And then, with a final lurch, everything was still.

The Doctor straightened his bowtie and slowly opened the doors, cautious of whatever was outside. Something felt...off, but he couldn't place it.

His jaw practically fell to the Silurians' underground base when he saw what was outside the doors.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, everyone! On to the next chapter!**

Outside the TARDIS doors was a blonde woman, with deep brown eyes full of emotion. She had rosy cheeks and long eyelashes, and was wearing a blue sweater and black jeans. It was _her._ Rose Tyler. She had aged about 10 years since they last met, but The Doctor could still recognize her.

"Who are you?" she demanded in a familiar Cockney accent. "Where is The Doctor?" The Doctor felt a sting. She didn't recognize him. Well, of course she didn't he had changed his face.

"Rose," he began gently.

"How do you know my name?" Rose asked sharply. "I'm gonna ask this one more time: Where. Is. The Doctor?"

"Rose," The Doctor breathed. "It's me." His green eyes begged her to believe him.

Rose paused, and placed something back in her pocket, which the Doctor was guessing was a weapon. "Doctor?" the wide-eyed blonde asked tenatively.

"It's me, Rose," he said again. At first he thought she believed him, but he was proven wrong when she whipped out a blaster from her pocket, and fired. Everything went black.

The Doctor groggily opened his eyes. He saw Rose's face looking at him.

"Please!" he shouted, throwing his arms up. "I won't hurt you!" He realized he was lying in a hospital bed. Rose placed her hand on his. The Doctor noticed a golden wedding ring on her fingers.

"Doctor," she said. "It's alright. I believe you. And I am _so_ sorry I fired that thing at you."

The Doctor looked around. "Did I regenerate?" he asked.

Rose shook her head. "That wasn't a blaster designed to kill. It was just to knock you out." She studied him. "You're different."

The Doctor smiled knowingly. "Regeneration." He looked into her eyes. "One question, though, Rose. Why do you trust me?"

Rose motioned to something above him. "We scanned your anatomy. We found a binary vascular system, an unbelievable respiratory system, and an incredible amount of energy, presumably regeneration energy. We also ran a DNA test, just to be sure." The Doctor looked up. There were monitors, x-rays, and other equipment that was considerably advanced based on the time period.

The Doctor nodded. "Alright, another question. How do I look?"

Rose looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean? Haven't you seen your face yet?" she asked.

"Well, of course I did, but I want to know how it looks like..." he struggled to find words, "from fresh eyes."

Rose giggled a bit. "Well, your hair is..sorta, um, floppy, and your chin is very, er, _prominent,"_ she said.

"You haven't commented on my bowtie!" he whined.

"Oh, yeah, your bowtie...is, uh.." she trailed off.

"Cool?" The Doctor asked eagerly.

"Yeah," said Rose. "Cool."

"Yes!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Ha! It is cool!" Rose stifled a laugh.

"Oh, by the way, Rose Tyler, one more question," said The Doctor. "Who are you married too?"

Rose smiled. "Oh, you saw my ring?" she asked happily. "It's actually Rose Tyler Smith, now, Doctor."

"Smith, eh?" asked the Doctor. He wouldn't let on, but he was more than a bit jealous. "He must be very cool for Rose Tyler, I mean Smith, to fall in love with."

Rose nodded. "He is. He is great." And then she looked at him. "You know who I'm talking about, right?" she asked.

"Why? Do I know him?" The Doctor asked, totally oblivious.

"Doctor," she said. "Look at the ring." She slipped the ring of her finger. The Doctor observed it. It seemed normal, shiny and beautiful. However, if he looked closer, there were markings inscribed. And, as he looked even closer the markings read, " _Rose Tyler, I love you,"_ in Old High Gallifreyan.

The Doctor gasped. "You married a Time Lord?" he asked ashtonishingly. "I didn't know there were any left!"

Rose smiled, but this time, it was her special tongue-touched smile. "Would you like to meet him?" she asked. Her brown eyes sparkled with amusement. More than anything, The Doctor most definitely did not want to meet this very mean Time Lord. But it was quite rude to refuse, so he said yes.

"Brilliant," said Rose as The Doctor got out of the hospital bed.

"May I ask, Rose," The Doctor said. "Do you have any children?"

Rose nodded. "Oh, yeah. One gorgeous daughter we named Lily Shareen Smith. She's four years old, but already intelligence is showing. Although, not Time Lord level sort of smart. More like Einstein level sort of smart. But, of course, you never can be too sure when she's just 4."

Finally, they stopped at a door. "This is his office," she explained.

"This is Torchwood?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah," replied the blonde.

The door opened to reveal a huge contraption. Behind the machine, you could hear a voice muttering, "When in doubt, reverse the polarity."

Rose cleared her throat. "Excuse me! We have a visitor! Doctor!"

Instantly, someone stood up, revealing the Tenth Doctor. "Hello!" The Doctor exclaimed as he reached out to shake the Doctor's hand. "I'm The Doctor! What's your name?"

The Doctor spun to face Rose. "You married my duplicate?" he asked.

Rose stared at him. "Blimey, you didn't know?"

Meanwhile, the Meta-Crisis was looking at The Doctor. "Rose," he asked. "Is this...me?"

Rose nodded. "B-but that's impossible. Why in the name of Rassilon am I wearing a bowtie? It's despicable!" he said in astonishment.

The Eleventh Doctor scowled. "Oi! Stop it! Bowties are cool! Your wife said so herself!"

The Meta-Crisis stared at Rose in disbelief. "How could you say that?"

"Oi!" Rose said to the Eleventh Doctor. "Fancy bringing me to the argument. I'll be in the lobby, just drinking coffee if you need me," she said as she headed out.

And then she poked her head back in. "By the way, I'll phone the babysitter to check on Lily, alright?"

The Meta-Crisis nodded. "Ok." He turned his attention to his future self. "Now," he said crossly. "I suppose you'll be telling me you like pears, now, too."

The Eleventh Doctor shook his head. "No, pears are still terrible," he replied, much to the other Doctor's relief. "Apples are evil, too." And that was when the Meta-Crisis exploded.

"How can you hate apples?" he asked furiously. "No, no, no. Go chat with Rose while I immerge in the problems of self-realization."

The Eleventh Doctor got into the elevator. He stepped out, where Rose was sipping a drink. When she saw him, she sighed. "Have another row?" she asked. The Doctor shrugged.

"Fine," she said. "Just wait here. I'll go get the Doctor. It's time to go home."

About 30 minutes later, they arrived at their mansion. They got out of the car. "We have 2 floors to ourselves," said Rose to The Doctor.

"How many floors are there?" The Doctor asked.

"Four to live in, two for parties, one for storage, one for all the work like laundry and stuff, and one for Pete's lab," said the Meta-Crisis.

"So nine all in all," the Doctor said.

"Yup," confirmed Rose. She faced the Doctor. "By the way, Doctor, you're gonna stay here for the night so we can reopen a crack between dimensions. Nowadays, we always maintain an easily reopened crack. I mean, it's closed, but we can still reopen it without ripping the universe apart. It just takes loads on the electricity bill."

"What?!" The Doctor asked.

"Don't worry," assured Rose. "We asked approval from The Doctor. Call him Doctortoo."

"No," said the duplicate. "What about Tentoo? As in, Tenth Doctor also?"

"Alright," said the Eleventh Doctor. "Tentoo it is, then." He happily bounded into the mansion which Rose had opened for them.

"By the way," said The Doctor, "how's Tony?"

"Tony?" Tentoo asked. "He's fine. A proper teenager now."

Rose nodded. "He is currently in a party. Mum's gonna pick him up. Mum and Dad are travelling overnight. They're coming back tomorrow night."

"So it's only us and Lily," said Tentoo.

"By the way, I'm going to pay the babysitter," said Rose. "Heat the dinner, will you?"

An hour later, dinner was all done and everyone was relaxing. Rose was watching the telly, Tentoo, who was Pete's partner in business, was taking a break from analysing Pete's products and was playing a round of chess with The Doctor. Lily was watching them quietly.

When Rose switched to the news and saw the time was 8:00 in the evening, she quickly announced Lily's bedtime.

"Aww, Rose!" The Doctors complained.

"Look at it on the bright side," said Rose. "You get to tell her stories!" Tentoo looked excited. "No, Tentoo, not you. I've had enough of your tales about the Toclafane. What about you, Eleventh Doctor?"

The Doctor rubbed his hands. "What about...The Seven Keys of Doomsday?" he asked.

Rose cringed. "I'll tell her about our travels instead. And not the terrifying ones!"

The next morning, Rose was woken up by Tentoo.

"Rose," he whispered.

Rose's eyes fluttered open. "Doctor?" she asked. "It's a Sunday. The one day of the week where we don't have work. We don't even have freedom on Saturdays. I want to sleep."

"But Rose," Tentoo said. "He wants to say goodbye."

Instantly, Rose was wide awake. "What?" she asked. "He's leaving already?" Tentoo nodded.

Rose rushed down the stairs to the living room, forgetting the fact that she was barefoot, or in her night clothes, or that her hair was a complete mess.

"Doctor?" she asked.

"Rose."

"Doctor, please, stay," begged Rose.

"I can't stay too long, Rose," he said. "You know that."

Rose wiped her teary eyes. "But, why did the TARDIS even bring you here?" she asked.

"Because I thought of you," The Doctor replied. "And she missed you too. Why don't you have a look around?"

Rose entered the ship. Ths TARDIS' gentle humming filled her head. "I missed you too, Old Girl," she whispered. The interior of the TARDIS had changed so much, and yet it was still the same.

"It's beautiful," breathed Rose. Her hazel eyes were filling with tears.

"Rose," the Doctor said. "Remember Bad Wolf Bay?"

Rose faced him. "Yes."

"What I was going to say..." the Doctor stopped. Rose didn't press him to go on. She just looked into his bright green eyes, so full of life, so young, and yet...so old.

The Doctor looked down. "I need to go." He scribbled something on a piece of paper, and then led her out of the TARDIS. As he shut the door, Rose caught a glimmer of a tear in his eyes. She also noticed the piece of paper he was writing on accidentally dropped to the ground. Rose picked it up.

"Doctor, you left - " she was cut off by the TARDIS dematerialising. As the beautiful sound, the sound of the universe filled her ears, a strong wind blew. Rose unfolded the paper. It said, _Rose Tyler, I love you._

Rose gasped as the paper was blown away. There were other words in the paper, a whole letter in fact, but it was blown away by the strong wind. But that was all she needed to know. Tears streamed down her cheeks. But at least she knew.

The End

 **This chapter is definitely lighter than the previous one, so that the others who like more messing around will be happy too. I mean, I wanted messing about as well. It was too serious. ;-)**


End file.
